Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1887-06-22
Don't Neglect the Weeds Now.

This is the time of the year when we
are quite liable to let the weeds get the
stare of US, and SO get theupper hand.
We have cultivated and hoed the
fields and gardens very thoroughly
two or three times, and now wish to
give our whole attention to haying or
other matters. A shower starts a
new crop of weed seeds; they look very
small and insignificant st first, but
with the warm weather Of this season
they grow large in I'D incredibly short
space of time, and If let alone, will
cover the surface of the ground with q
dense sward, which will prove of seri-
Gus injury to the crop. And they add
insult to injury, as it were, by ripen-
ing their seeds to give us untold
trouble in thefuture. Afarmer should
never feel that the wedding season is
passed until the ground freezes in
autumn, or until it is too cold for
weed seeds to germinate. Nearly all
cultivated crops are benefited by
shallow cultivation, so long as the
crop does not so shade the ground as
to prevent seeds from sprouting. 1t
has been our practice 20 go through
corn fields with light, sharp hoe with
wide plate, and scrape over the sur
face, cutting out all late starting
weeds, and leaving g. perfectly clean
field that will remain clean until har-
vest time. If the previous cultivation
has been what it should be, y man
will go over large area in O. day, and
the cost per acre will be light. There
are weeds in the corn fields on every
farm, which of themselves would do
little, if any harm, to the present
crop, but if left to mature SEED, will
prove very Injurious to any spring
grain crop that may follow. DIR.
| Sturtevant, who at one time
studied this weed question quite per-
sistently, and almost made enemies
by the course be pursued, found that
a corn field could carry g. good many
juring the crop equal to the cost Of re-
| moving them, but he stated that in
| the usual farm rotation OF corn fol-
lowed by the small grains and grass,
weeds do g. large amount Of injury,
and may possibly make the grain
crops Improbable to raise. Weeds
are not such terrible nuisance il we
| will attack them in season, but the
trouble is, we neglect them until they
become firmly rooted in the soil, or
are so heavily rooted that they will
continue to grow after being pulled
up. 1t rarely pays to pull weeds that
are long past blossoming. Seeds partly
filled, will ripen from the sap in the
stalks. Neither is it wise to pull
weeds, and throw them in the hog pen
to finish ripening their seeds, as is the
too frequent custom Of many.
Throwing them in the street is little
better, for the seed will ripeh, and in
utter years the roadside becomes a
nursery of weeds, from which thefar
and garden will be annually supplied.
Kill the weeds when they are small,
or bury them where they will rot
after they have attained size. But
whatever you do, or however you
proceed, do not let weeds get the
mastery. A farmer who cultivates
more land than he can cultivate well,
and keep reasonably free from weeds,
ought to be ashamed of his work, and
he generally is. Weeds are unpopu-
lar, yet, like the poor, ye always have
them with you Practical Farmer.
At the present price of pure-bred
dairy COWS few farmers feel able to
buy them, unless they intend to COM
bine with dairying the business of fine
stock raising. The dairyman will,
therefore, find the plan of starting
with selected grade COWS, and a pure
bred bull OF good pedigree, best
adapted to limited purse. A herd of
three-fourths or seven-eighths Holstein
or Jersey grade COWS can thus be built
up IN few years.
A new theory regarding milk fever is
that it is caused by removing too much
of the warm milk from the udder i'm
mediately after caIving, thus causing
a chill. 1t is suggested never to allow
the calf to suck over one-fourth of the
milk until after the fourth day.
With a heller just coming to milk
the period of flow should be made as
long as possible Or desirable by feed
ing especially to that end, and when
once established will be very likely to
be continued. When this is not done
it often recedes in short mixer, and
is g. reason why there are so many of
that class.
Every cord of wood used and con-
verified into ashes is so much fertilizer
that may be used on the land. Not
only do ashes contain potash but also
phosphoric acid and lime. If ashes be
used freely it only requires some kind
OF heterogeneous fertilizer to be added
to the soil to enable the farmer to
grow large crop.
Sheep Craze very closely and should
not be allowed on grass that is back
ward in growth or where the field is
not well covered, unless such grass be
undesirable.
A good horse, with judicious use of
horse hoe in the hands of an expert
enced person, should cultivate five
acres of corn in day, and the young
corn should be kept clean and the
earth loose from the time it appears
out of the ground until it be nearly
ready to tassel. The early cultivation
is the most important. Thin out
some Of the stalks if there be too
MANY in a. hill